When a customer walks through your door, even if that door happens to be a virtual one online, it means that your products and services have already captured his interest. It may have been because your marketing efforts or it could be from a little window shopping, but it means that the customer is interested enough to look into what your company has to offer. When you take this interest one step further and generate a sale, you have an opportunity to go even further with a well-planned upsell.

Have you ever noticed that when you go to a fast food restaurant and order one of their meal deals, the clerk behind the counter will immediately ask you if you want to super size, upsize, or “upgrade” your meal for a little more money? You probably went through a similar experience when you grabbed the popcorn and soda combination at your local movie theatre. Both of these are instances of upselling and there is no reason why you cannot implement a similar strategy with your business.

Say that you run a graphic design company, for example, and you have a client approach you for a new company logo. This is a great opportunity to try and sell them supplementary materials featuring the new logo, such as business cards, letterhead, and even a new website design. If you sell any kind of consumer electronics or computer hardware, there is always an opportunity to sell useful accessories to accompany the main purchase.

Upselling is a very delicate process, because while you want to make the additional sale, you don’t want to come off as pushy and high-pressure. Find the balance that you are comfortable with and you will be able to improve your revenue significantly.